The present disclosure relates to a micro-mirror-based display system capable of displaying grayscale images.
A spatial light modulator (SLM) can be built with an array of tiltable mirror plates having reflective surfaces. Each mirror plate can be tilted by electrostatic forces to an “on” position and an “off” position. The electrostatic forces can be generated by electric potential differences between the mirror plate and one or more electrodes underneath the mirror plate. In the “on” position, the micro mirror plate can reflect incident light to form an image pixel in a display image. In the “off” position, the micro mirror plate directs incident light away from the display image. The micro mirror plate in the “on” position produces one brightness level in the pixel, and in the “off” position produces a dark state for the pixel. To increase the quality of display images, it is desirable to provide multiple brightness levels in the image pixels.